The internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle requires an adequate supply of filtered, fresh air. Accordingly, air from the atmosphere may be drawn through a particle filter to remove dust and other particulates en route to the engine intake. Under normal operating conditions of the motor vehicle—normal weather, a normal operating environment, etc., a single particle filter may provide many months of trouble-free air filtration before a replacement is needed. During extreme weather conditions, however, the filter may clog prematurely, thereby restricting air flow into the engine and degrading motor-vehicle performance. Such extreme weather conditions may include very snowy or dusty conditions, for example.
One solution to the problem noted above is to install a specialized grille cover on the motor vehicle to prevent entry of snow and/or dust into the engine compartment. However, such a grille cover may be expensive and must be matched particularly to the front-end configuration of the motor vehicle on which it is installed. Further, the motor-vehicle operator may be obliged to install and remove the grille cover repeatedly, in response to changing weather conditions, causing dissatisfaction. The inventors herein have recognized these limitations and have devised an alternative, or additional, approach aimed at providing fresh air to the engine of a motor vehicle operating in extreme weather conditions.
Therefore, one embodiment provides a motor-vehicle air cleaner adapted to provide clean intake air. The motor-vehicle air cleaner comprises a filter assembly including a main filter, an auxiliary filter set apart from the main filter, and a filter mount fixed to and configured to support the main filter and the auxiliary filter. The motor-vehicle air cleaner further comprises an air-cleaner housing configured to fittably and removably accommodate the filter assembly and to enclose the main filter and the auxiliary filter separately when the filter assembly is accommodated in the air-cleaner housing. The motor-vehicle air cleaner further comprises a flow restrictor configured to restrict air flow to the auxiliary filter.
It will be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description, which follows. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined by the claims that follow the detailed description. Further, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.